benheck

We were surprised the last time [Ben Heck] was building a Xbox 360 laptop, yet here’s another one. Well, it’s not a laptop exactly, but an Xbox 360 built inside of a Pelican case. After receiving several requests for a similar device for people stationed overseas, he finally decided to try it out. The goal is to get all the components into the case so that the watertight seals are intact. It’s only partially complete right now and he notes that one of the major hurdles will be converting the DVD drive to top loading. The light ring and USB ports will probably be moved to the top surface, and the hard drive will be made removable. We look forward to the final writeup since there aren’t many tutorials on working with Pelican cases.

[Ben Heckendorn]’s Access Controller is now shipping. The controller is designed to be used with just one hand. It has six openings that the five control modules can be placed in. It’s easy to reconfigure depending on the player or game. While the prototype was built using Xbox 360 controller parts, this newly released unit is available for the PS2, PS3, and PCs. The Xbox 360 version is still being reviewed for final production. [Ben] says that in the coming weeks he’ll post a how-to for building your own modules. There’s always one empty slot and the bus like design should make this fairly simple.

[Ben Heck] posted and update on a project he’s doing for THQ. This latest Xbox 360 laptop is being built as a contest prize. It’s based on a 60GB Xbox 360 and is slightly larger than the previous laptops. It can accommodate a standard 360 hard drive without modification. An Xbox Live camera is included as well.

Reader [HotDog-Cart] is an active member of the benheck forums and recently completed this Playstation 3 boomerang controller. The boomerang was originally shown with the Playstation 3 prototype and was severely panned by the press. [Josh] started with a cheap 3rd party controller that was approximately boomerang shaped. He enlarged the controller body ~20% using bondo. The internals were replaced with gear from an official Sony controller. It was finished with a coat of black paint. It’s definitely a nice build and the new internals mean it probably feels as good as any factory controller.

This is another fine project to come out of the benheck forums. [sam_thornley] built this portable game system last Fall. It uses the guts of a JAKKS Namco TV arcade stick. The composite signal from the board is connected to a 2.5″ Intec screen with a CCFL backlight. Four rechargable AA batteries are in the case for 2.5 hours of play. It doesn’t have sound, but he says the TV games’ sound pales to the original anyway. It’s certainly a nice compact build in a regular project box.

Fresh off the tips line, [Jake] sent in his portable NES project. We’ve seen quite a few portables, but we love that the entire thing is built into an old NES cartridge. It’s got 99 games and some clever control placement. Three N cells nestled in the former connector slot power the system. You can see more pic over at [Ben Heck]’s forum.

Ben Heck has just wrapped up his latest project, a portable Atari 7800. He had meant to do this a long time ago, but lacking experience, the complex looking circuit board scared him off. It features a seven inch display, rechargeable batteries, combination driving and paddle controllers, plus AV out. The console was built by request and just like his other pojects: he’s not shy about showing you how it’s put together. Look for a making-of coming soon.